In light of the alarming claims by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley that an alleged plot to overthrow the Government had been uncovered at the nation’s highest security intelligence agency–the Strategic Services Agency (SSA)–two political scientists have made a call for transparency in the disclosure made by the PM in Parliament on Wednesday.
In an exclusive report in the Sunday Guardian, former director of the SSA Major Roger Best, who was terminated, is distancing himself from claims by Dr Rowley that the agency under his watch was plotting to overthrow the Government. There has been strong denial by Best, who labelled the claims as “preposterous” and “ludicrous” and said the information presented by the PM was “filled with many degrees of disinformation to suit a particular narrative that was based on incorrect information.” He described it as a witch-hunt.
Prof Hamid Ghany and Dr Bishnu Ragoonath, responding to the claims made by Prime Minister Rowley, who is the head of the National Security Council (NSC), during the parliamentary sitting, both agreed the disclosures were “deeply disturbing” and “treasonous” but lacked critical information.
Responding to claims that a possible plot to overthrow the government involving SSA personnel had been uncovered, Prof Ghany told Guardian Media yesterday, “The statement made by Prime Minister Rowley in the House of Representatives last Wednesday about a plot to stage a coup to remove the constitutionally-elected Government is deeply disturbing as it raises the spectre of treason.”
Referring to the denial by Best, Prof Ghany said the continuing imbroglio had raised questions as to, “Who is telling the truth?” Dr Ragoonath, meanwhile, said the country had nothing else to go on other than what Dr Rowley had revealed.
Prof Ghany said, “Parliamentary privilege protects the Prime Minister; however, there are avenues available to private citizens to challenge the parliamentary record on statements made in Parliament that they allege are not true in relation to them.”
Ghany, however, advised that “if Major Best wanted to avail himself of this facility,” he would have to wait until September, as Parliament had gone into its mandated recess under Standing Order 14 of the House of Representatives from the first week of July to the first week of September.
He said, “In the interim, one would have to see if any charges are laid as a result of the Prime Minister’s statement.”
Dr Ragoonath: Where Is The Transparency?
Calling for an assurance that the authorities had moved to take action against those involved in the alleged coup plot, Dr Ragoonath called for greater transparency in the matter concerning national security.
He said, “There is absolutely no other information that we have outside there, except for the statement the Prime Minister made in Parliament. At this point in time, there is no transparency as to what has happened.
“If you tell me somebody was planning a coup to overthrow the Government and nobody was charged, then something is wrong if you have that information and you’re not using it.”
Indicating he was “hard-pressed” to make a comment on whether there was any truth to the matter, Ragoonath reiterated that information was lacking. “So whether or not the Prime Minister knew about where the information came from that aroused all the suspicions and all of these things, all that is only speculation. We don’t know what started it,” he said.
Referring to the ongoing police investigation, Ragoonath believed that Dr Rowley was attempting to put two different issues together. He said, “One was on the SSA, and the other was on Gary Griffith granting Firearm User’s Licences (FUL). So whether the Prime Minister is trying to make a link there or not, I don’t know, but again, all we have are two statements.”
He added that there was a lot of, “He say, she say” about the matter.
Dr Ragoonath, however, agreed certain protocols had to be followed if some of the information was sensitive and could not be revealed due to national security.
“But this last set of information about an attempted coup,” he said, was “stretching it a bit because there is absolutely no information as to what would have caused that.”
He added, “When I heard about the statement on the coup, it reminded me of when Kamla Persad-Bissessar was in power and there was a suggestion about a coup attempt to overthrow the Government, and that’s why we had a State of Emergency under that regime. This time there is no State of Emergency but we are hearing the same propaganda,” he stated.
On the issue of Dr Rowley using parliamentary privilege to make the disclosures while the audit was said to be incomplete, Ragoonath said while he was not wrong to do so, he should also be able to reveal what was being done to address the issues identified.
Ragoonath said parliamentarians should not use the umbrella of parliamentary privilege to make allegations but rather to inform the public of what is happening.
Burning questions to answer
Meanwhile, criminologist Daurius Figueira said the claim of “a coup being plotted by employees of the SSA with the material to effect said coup being purchased by the leadership of the SSA, using taxpayers funds, had also raised burning questions that must be answered.”
He accused Dr Rowley of acting prematurely in revealing some of the findings of the ongoing audit into the operations of the SSA, especially under the cloak of parliamentary privilege.
Figueira said the PM has some burning questions to answer. Regarding the claims of an alleged coup, which were among the findings contained in the ongoing SSA audit, Figueira said several questions had arisen.
These include:
1. Why didn’t the oversight structure of the SSA, in light of the scuttlebutt that was rampant throughout the ranks of the organisation, pick up the scent of these actions and exercise their regulatory powers to expose and prosecute the guilty?
2. Is it because the SSA is so heavily politicised that its oversight structure or capacity is paralysed?
3. Why make such a statement under parliamentary privilege when the investigation is ongoing?
4. Is this a repeat of the case of the Scott Drug Report, which was made public, thereby destroying its admissibility as evidence in criminal prosecution?
5. Why reveal to the public that some 70,000 rounds of ammunition purchased with taxpayers’ funds by the SSA are now not accounted for by the SSA and that in fact, their whereabouts are unknown?
6. What can the public, knowing of this grave threat, do to recover the ammunition that the SSA does not know?
7. To purchase and disappear 70, 000 rounds of ammunition from the only civilian intelligence gathering agency in T&T charged with engaging in transnational organised crime, is it expected that the plotters have loose lips?
8. If the coup plotters have loose lips, why, to date, has the ammunition has not been recovered by the State?
9. Who are the coup plotters working for?
10. Are they religious cultists who want state power by any means necessary to cleanse and sanctify T&T for their God, or are they in the employ of transnational organised crime?
Figueira warned, “If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and tastes like curry duck, then it is a duck.”
“Check yourself,” he urged.
The criminologist said Rowley had to accept responsibility and also account for his choices. “The fact of the matter is that the buck stops with the PM, as the choice of director for the SSA was his call, as all such calls in the national security apparatus are."
He further questioned, “Where was the detailed surveillance report on the prospective director before he was given the job? Did it reveal all his personal habits, alliances, foibles, and personality?”
The audit
During last Wednesday’s sitting, Dr Rowley disclosed some of the findings contained in the SSA audit that was initiated in March after the Special Branch presented certain information to him as head of the NSC.
The information resulted in former SSA director Major Best being sent on administrative leave and replaced by General (Ret’d) Anthony Phillips-Spencer. Best was later fired.
The extensive internal review and audit of the SSA has been ongoing since March 2, when the former ambassador was installed as the acting SSA director. Since the audit started, three people have been charged and 28 people have been fired from the SSA.
The Standing Orders
Order 18 of the House of Representatives Standing Orders, outlines the procedure for a non-member to apply to have their views placed on the parliamentary record if they claim that their personal or professional reputation was tarnished during a previous debate.
The Order states that in deciding whether to grant a request, the House Speaker must consider the extent to which the reference is capable of adversely affecting the individual’s reputation; whether the matter is trivial; and whether their intended submission is frivolous, vexatious or offensive in character. The House Speaker may also confer with the person seeking to make the submission and with the member, who referred to the applicant.